Samoa remains low risk for Ebola

With the United Nations’ Security Council yesterday declaring “the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a threat to peace and security”, chances the virus will reach Samoa are small.

In a communiqué issued by Samoa’s Ministry of Health (M.O.H), the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) maintains that “the risk of importing a case of Ebola into a Pacific Island remains low.”

While this may be the case, in the communiqué the Ministry issued an advisory concerning international travel.

“The current Ebola outbreak is on-going and considered a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (P.H.E.I.C.), and already confirmed in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria but now also in

Senegal, with an unrelated Ebola outbreak in the Republic of Congo,” the communiqué reads.

“Currently there are no direct flights from Ebola affected areas to Samoa.

“However, many of our people travel widely, such as sporting bodies and Government Officials, even into Africa.”

“Hence this advisory update which the public is advised to take close notice of and ensure safety during travel.”

While the Ministry has issued this advisory, it states clearly that the risk of transmission of Ebola virus disease (EBV) during air travel is low.

“Ebola is not airborne - it can only be transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is sick with the disease and is showing symptoms of Ebola,” the M.O.H. reports.

“W.H.O. does not recommend imposing travel bans to or from the countries affected, in accordance with advice from the W.H.O. Ebola Emergency Committee.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council in its first emergency meeting on a public health crisis, not only declared the Ebola outbreak in West

Africa a threat to peace and security, Secretary-General Tupua Ban Ki-moon announced the U.N. will deploy a new emergency health mission to combat one of most horrific diseases on the planet that has shattered the lives of millions.

“This international mission, to be known as the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or U.N.M.E.E.R., will have five priorities,” Tupua told the Security Council.

“Stopping the outbreak, treating the infected, ensuring essential services, preserving stability and preventing further outbreaks.

“Under the leadership of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the Mission will bring together the full range of U.N. actors and expertise in support of national efforts,” he said, adding that details of the mission were sent in a letter to the Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly.

Tupua said the mission’s effectiveness will depend crucially on support from the international community.

“Our best estimate is that we need a 20-fold increase in assistance,” he said.

The U.N. this week outlined a set of critical needs totalling almost $1billion over the next six months.

Tupua spoke before the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution, sponsored by 131 countries – reportedly more than any other sponsors of a resolution to date in the chamber – “determining that the unprecedented extent of the

Ebola outbreak in Africa constitute a threat to international peace and security.”

Expressing concern about the detrimental effect of the isolation of Ebola-hit Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone as a result of trade and travel restrictions imposed on the affected countries, the Council called on Member States, including of the region, to such restrictions imposed as a result of the outbreak, and to facilitate the delivery of assistance, including qualified, specialised and trained personnel and supplies to the affected countries.

Briefing the Council members, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the W.H.O. said: “None of us experienced in containing outbreaks has ever seen, in our lifetimes, an emergency on this scale, with this degree of suffering and with this magnitude of cascading consequences.”

Emphasising that the current reports, which show more than 5,500 people have been infected by Ebola and more than 2,500 killed by it in West Africa, are “vast underestimates”, Dr. Chan said the W.H.O. Ebola Response Roadmap outlines 12 critical actions.

“The fact that the United States, Unite Kingdom, China, Cuba and other countries are using a variety of assets, including military, speaks to the complexity of the challenge,” she said.

“This surge in support could help turn things around for the roughly 22 million people, in the hardest-hit countries whose lives and societies have been shattered by one of the most horrific diseases on this planet.”

 Tupua added that the penalty for inaction is high. 

“We need to race ahead of the outbreak – and then turn and face it with all our energy and strength,” he said.

Tupua called out to non-traditional donors, the business community, for example, to contribute in the health, transport, communications and information sectors.

Both the Tupua and the President of the Security Council for the month of September, United States Ambassador Samantha Power, said only twice before has the Security Council met to discuss the security implications of a public health issue – both times on the A.I.D.S. epidemic.

Yesterday’s meeting was the first emergency meeting on a public health issue, according to the Security Council President.

In his closing remarks to the Council, Dr. David Nabarro, the Senior U.N. System Coordinator for Ebola, welcomed the “powerful solidarity” shown during the day-long meeting for the countries affected, as well as appreciation for what they and their partners are doing to confront the outbreak.

Some countries, including from Africa, had offered some significant commitments in support of the international Ebola response.

“This has been such an extraordinary outpouring of support from all over the world – a real global coalition,” he said.

Speaking to the press immediately after the meeting, Dr. Chan said she too had been touched by the outpouring of solidarity, which “gives us hope that the global community understands the severity of the outbreak and the fact that no one country or organisation can address it alone.”

~With reporting from the U.N. Media Centre